help with my 300 jack dempsey fry's

hey yall i'm new on here and love it already!but i need help!i have mom&dad JD and they are just in love with each other ,(really!)constantly having babies and right now i got about 300 healthy fry's.I wanna know if they NEED the mom&dad in the tank with them to survive?It's a55 g.tank it's all for them,but sometimes i think i see the mom neak around and eat one everyonce in awhile.i feed them good so i know thy are not starving,but sometimes i think they might get on the mamas nerves or something.Should i go ahead an take them mom&dad out?Cause i'm trying to breed fish over here,but i won't get anywhere if the parents are sneakin around and gettin' a snack! What should i do?

You can take the fry out they do not need there parents at all but like most fry they will grow faster when they are with there parents , but the jd parents will eat the weaker fish. I do leave my fry with my parents due to the fact that when you the the fry out the parents will go into breeding mode right away. I am not sure if you are trying to breed electric blue jack dempseys but if you are the process is a little different.

I used to leave mine with the parents for a little while to let them eat some of the weaker fry before removing them. As jd said if you take the fry out the parents will go back into breeding mode quicker. So if you remove them make sure you have enough room for the next batch of fry as well.

Question on the Jack Dempseys, Ours bred and have babies left i had to take them out of the tank as soon as I saw that they had babies because ther were eating. This was the first time in 12 years they had some. Why does the dad chase her all the time. It has been this way for years and now it looks like it is taking a toll on her. I had to take them out of the the 45 gallon and put them in a 20 gallon because all of my other tanks were full. Please help what should I do. I am putting them in a 45 gallon hectagon this weekend. I was trying to wait until my nephew moves to his new apartment so he can take them with him. The fry has been on their own. and are doing good. Also why are some big and some small. Does the size determine whether they are male of female?

Nope just runs are small and fish that eat more are bigger : / Unless your breeding ebjd's then the smaller ones are usually blues , and with them you have to separate them from the normals and the parents or else they will get owned.

tbarnwell wrote:

Question on the Jack Dempseys, Ours bred and have babies left i had to take them out of the tank as soon as I saw that they had babies because ther were eating. This was the first time in 12 years they had some. Why does the dad chase her all the time. It has been this way for years and now it looks like it is taking a toll on her. I had to take them out of the the 45 gallon and put them in a 20 gallon because all of my other tanks were full. Please help what should I do. I am putting them in a 45 gallon hectagon this weekend. I was trying to wait until my nephew moves to his new apartment so he can take them with him. The fry has been on their own. and are doing good. Also why are some big and some small. Does the size determine whether they are male of female?

The males do grow faster then the females and by far get bigger. There will be runts in the batch . If you want to slow down the breeding take 250 of the fry and leave them with 50 . This way they stay in parent mode . When she is ready to lay eggs again they will make room for the new. The aggression can also be helped by having dithers(target fish) in the tank with them. Large body barbs (fast ones) these fish should be qt first and don't expect to keep them. Also plenty of honeymoon spots so the female can hide from the male. Most of that agression is from the male wanting to spawn again and the female is just not ready. Feed em well and spread the aggression. One thing I learned with breeding jds is if they do it once they will do it again in 2-3 week periods.

Oh and if the tank is smaller then 48 inches long the aggression will never leave. The male will always be near her and pick on her untill she spawns or gets beat up really bad. A breeding pair of jds need a 4 foot length tank to continue to be happy.